Why abrupt changes in laws can hurt the economy: TPSF

Dodoma. The government must avoid the tendency to abruptly change laws, rules and regulations governing business and investment in the country, the private sector has said.

Abrupt changes in policies and regulations as well as directives targeted at businesses make both existing and prospective investors anxious, according to the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF).

Speaking at the weekend in Dodoma during the Third High Level Public Private Dialogue (PPD) on Doing Business in Tanzania, TPSF vice chairman Salum Shamte said this frustrated investors and made them uncertain about the security of their money.

“There is no secret that the tendency makes investors uncertain about the security of their capital this contributes to the decrease of investments inflows,” Mr Shamte said.

The forum brought together representatives from the private sector and the government in Dodoma to chart out ways of improving the investment and business environments.

According to Mr Shamte, for investors to inject huge sums of money into investments, especially at this time when the government is emphasising on industrial development, investors should be assured of their future.

He said it was also undeniable fact that the government’s confidence in the private sector has of late been growing, something which was needed for the growth of businesses in the country.

Responding to the concerns, the Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Philip Mpango, said that it would not be easy for the government to abandon the practice given the fact that some of the investors are unscrupulous.

He was, however, quick to add that the government would make sure that the investment environment was improved to realise the industrialisation objective as well as the middle-income vision by 2025. Dr Mpango further noted that the government would continue to target businesspeople and investors who were dishonest and who had been stealing public resources or smuggling them out of the country.

He said that in the same vein, the government would continue to make efforts to reduce unnecessary inconveniences in the process of putting up new investments as well as improve the environment by reviewing taxation systems as well as improve infrastructure such as ports and railways, among others.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Industries, Trade and Investments, Prof Elisante Gabriel, said in the industrial economy journey, the government was committed to improving the business and investment environments, adding that the private sector was among key stakeholders.

He pointed out that the government was making sure that existing factories were operating at full capacity.